For the next year and a half I will be a full-time student with no job. So I would like to commute to class on my 29er and save on gas money. I don’t know what my commute will be yet, but I imagine it will be anywhere between 6 and 13 miles. Whenever I ride beyond 5 miles, I find myself leaning forward on my handle to relieve the pressure on my butt. So this is making me wonder if I’d benefit from a touring handle of some sort.
Can any of the current touring handlebars be used with the Thompson seatpost and Scott Wallis CF base? I’ve seen some set-ups that attach to the seatpost instead of the base, but I don’t know if these are custom made. Any suggestions?
Bar setups which do not use the seat base are custom jobs. It is best to start with a tandem adjustable stoker stem.
From what I have seen, people used to use GB4 handles with CF bases. The only thing that seems to have been done to protect the saddle is a thin rubber layer between the bars and the seatbase.
The nimbus shadow handle bolts onto the rear bumper and 2 of the front bumper holes. If the hole spacings are the same as on a regular base this would work fine. The KH t-bar uses the 4 grab handle bolts. Using the reinforcement plate that comes with it would probably be overkill and might not fit the slightly different seatpost mountings.
At the moment Im waiting to get a job but once I have one I will be getting someone to build me something resembling a GB4 handle. As nice as the T-bar and shadow is. I want something simple that feels more stiff.
The only off the rack seatpost mounted bar that I know of is the Coker Pi-Bar. I have been using one for years, and I like it. It’s also only $50, so amongst the least expensive outside of making your own from scavenged parts.
There are a few downsides.
First, some people (not me) have complained about legs rubbing the boom on the bar. While I can understand the annoyance the solution for then next two problems should solve it.
Second, it doesn’t offer as much extension as most people want.
Third, in its stock form it fits a 25.4 seatpost. Great for a Nimbus, not so great for anything with a larger post.
Solution for all of the above problems? Use a road stem instead of the stock Coker BMX stem that the Pi-Bar comes with. This will allow you to get something with as much extension as you might want. It moves the double boom further out so the rubbing issue is gone. To fit you will need shims down to your post size, and down to the 22.2 Pi-Bar size.
ooh, had forgotten about the pi bar… You could extend that with a pair of tri-bars on the end. The hand pads of tri bars make relatively good close to body grips.
The t-bar and shadow bars both use a 22.2mm T section. Using rather a lot of shims, you can clamp one into a stoker stem or use it as part of a custom bar.
Thanks!! I’ll look into this. I’m not sure what size my seat post is bc it’s in bike sizing, not unicycling. But if it matches up, I might try this. I probably won’t need the extensions bc I’m 5’5’'.
I could be wrong but didn’t Scott switch from a Miyata pattern to a KH pattern for the front bumper? It would be worth looking at the bolt pattern, you might just be able to bolt a T-bar onto the saddle.
Failing that I would look into making some sort of custom mount to fit the T section from a T-bar or Shadow handle.
The stoker bar handle would work but can be ugly and heavy. I have made a couple similar handles out of the top-tubes of old road bikes found in the dump. I have had to shim the handle end and open the post end but it works.
Only if you want to use the original stem that come with the Pi-Bar. A standard 1 1/8"road stem has a diameter of 28.6mm’s. You can get a shim that fits it down to 27.2. You need a stem that has a 25.4,or 26mm handlebar clamp and another shim to bring that down to 22.2 for the Pi-bar.
These shims are readily available at bike shops. The one thing that could be an issue is the width of the bar clamp on the stem. The space in the bar is narrow enough that I think some stems won’t fit, mostly mountain stems. I can measure it for you if you’re interested.
Thanks! I think I’ll just keep looking for different options. There is a CF bicycle production company near Santa Cruz, CA that has supposedly made parts for local unicyclists. I’m going to look into that first.
I forgot that you were in Santa Cruz. If you are going custom maybe see if Corbin Dunn has something laying around. I don’t know if he builds for sale, but he does nice looking work.
I emailed UDC New Zealand and they said both the KH T bar (without reinforcement plate) and the T7 bars (NZ still has them in stock) would work. I think what I’ll do is wait for the new KH flat seats to come out, get one of those with the KH T bar and use that seat set-up exclusively for distance riding. Then I’ll use my SW seat for trials and muni. Hopefully the KH flat seat comes out soooooon!!!
Yes the KH handle will work without the stiffener as long as your base hase the four hole handle mount, and not the three hole mount (like Eric said).
The T7 won’t work with the SW base. The T7 has a rail adapter built in that will work with a Thompson seatpost, but the SW base doesn’t use a rail adapter. Your base actually replaces the top clamp on the post. Since it doesn’t have a standard Schwinn seatpost mount the T7 is out. Besides, there is a reason they don’t make them anymore.
I might be out of luck.
Hopefully the KH flat seat comes out soooooon!!!